Archived press release

150,000 PEOPLE TO DIE FROM COLD BY NEXT ELECTION. Friends of the Earth Publishes Death Forecasts for Each MP

18 March 1999

Up to 150,000 people face death from winter cold before the next General Election. That is the stark message today from environment pressure group Friends of the Earth.

FOE has calculated the likely number of “Excess Winter Deaths” for each Parliamentary Constituency in the country, assuming that this Parliament runs for its five year term [1]. The UK has far more additional deaths during the Winter months than any other European country,including countries with colder climates such as Sweden and Norway. Typically, the number of deaths in the UK rises by 30% during winter, compared with 10% in Sweden and Norway. The reason for the death toll in the UK is our huge stock of poorly heated, energy inefficient homes.

The Government has announced an extra payment to pensioners of £100 this winter. But FOE believes this is badly targeted - many pensioners are not fuel poor and many who are fuel poor are not pensioners. The payment also fails to tackle the energy efficiency of housing stock. In a message to the Warm Homes Bill campaign, dated 27th February, Trade Secretary Stephen Byers said: “Simply shovelling money at people to heat the skies above our towns and cities is hardly a sustainable use of resources in the long term. Nor will it necessarily help the fuel poor much - because of their bad housing many of them will still be cold no matter how much they spend on fuel”.

For the English regions, the excess deaths forecast by FOE are:
East Anglia 12,067
London 14,340
Midlands 23,338
North East 18,791
North West 17,552
South East 19,327
South West 13,045
England 118,460
The numbers for each constituency range from 200 to 500. (A full constituency list is attached.)

Eight million households in the UK (about 15 million people) suffer from fuel poverty. Old people and children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of cold homes. Thousands die.Hundreds of thousands more suffer from cold related illnesses such as respiratory disease, heart and cerebro-vascular complaints. The cost to the NHS is about £1 billion a year. According to Dr Brenda Boardman of Oxford University “the energy efficiency of the home environment is what

determines whether a low income family can obtain adequate warmth”: [Fuel Poverty, p230].

FOE is promoting three key Parliamentary Bills which would end Winter deaths caused by fuel poverty. They are:
.
The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation (15 year Programme) Bill
. The Health Care and Energy Efficiency Bill
. The Fuel Poverty and Energy Conservation Bill

The Warm Homes Bill promoted by a cross Party groups of MPs would require the Government to organise a rolling programme of energy efficiency work on half a million homes every year for 15 years. The costs per home would be about £2,500, but the scheme would create almost 30,000 new jobs, and cut NHS and public sector housing maintenance bills. The Health Care Bill is promoted by Sir Robert Smith MP (Lib Dem). It would require health authorities to help patients with home insulation work. The Fuel Poverty Bill, promoted by John McAllion MP, would require local authorities to take steps to deal with fuel poverty, including home insulation work on their housing stock.

Some progressive Councils and Health Authorities have already done work on fuel poverty and energy efficiency with excellent results. In 1995, the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Health Authority made a grant of £300,000 to district councils to install central heating and insulation in homes where children were suffering from 101 homes were improved, which housed a total of 108 children suffering from asthma. A study of 28 of these children which found that asthma symptoms had improved and the children had dramatically less time off school as a result of their asthma.The Urban Renewal division of Birmingham City Council, with help from the Family Health Service,started a £150,000 scheme in March 1996 to help the elderly with home insulation. Local GPs report that the scheme has been a great success.

Although the Government has set up an inter-Departmental Working Party on fuel poverty, it has attempted to minimise the scale of the problem. Environment Minister Angela Eagle launched the Working Party by saying that “We want to develop a coherent strategy to eradicate fuel poverty”:[DETR Press Release 14.5.98]. But although successive Governments have accepted that there are 8 million households in fuel poverty, she went on to say that only “2.5 million households live in homes cold enough to increase the risk of ill health during winter and cannot afford to warm them up”.

Commenting, FOE Parliamentary Co-ordinator Ron Bailey said:
“The shocking truth is that Britain has the worst record on fuel poverty and winter deaths in Europe. Every winter up to 50,000 people die because we cannot find the political will to tackle the problem. The elderly and the young pay a terrible price for this apathy. Warm words from Government Ministers will heat nobody's home. And fiddling the figures is But the key Bills we are promoting would transform the situation in the lifetime of a Parliament.MPs need to look at our predictions very carefully. Their voters will be asking some tough questions. Will they tolerate these preventable tragedies year after year? Or will they join the campaign to do something about it?”

[1] The figures were calculated by dividing the number of EWDs in each county and unitary authority(source: the Office of National Statistics) between the Parliamentary Constituencies in that area, weighted according to population.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust